Forest dept team was in the jungle for about 4 days before elephant that has kept villages under fear was captured

It has been a memorable Christmas not only for the forest officials of the Bhadravathi range, but for the villagers of Channagiri in Davangere district as a tusker, aged about 35 years that had killed one and injured two in the last one year, was successfully captured on Wednesday.

The forest department officials and veterinarians led by DCF Bhadravathi MC Cheluvaraj took a lead in the operation that lasted for about four days in the forest and saw the participation of about seven department elephants, of whom Abhimanyu turned out to be a hero as he saved the lives of men almost twice during the operation.

Cheluvaraj told BM the staff and capturing team went inside the Rangayanagiri forest area in Channagiri range and spotted the tusker early in the morning of December 25.

“A team of veterinary doctors and staff along with seven elephants from the department successfully tranquilised the elephant and it was brought to the Sakrebailu Elephant Camp for further training.”

He said capturing the tusker was a challenging task as the pachyderm panicked when he realised that there was a team of men and elephants surrounding it. “He started chasing us, making it very difficult to run away from the scene. The department’s elephants provided a protective cover for the staff on the field. We are lucky that the department elephants saved our lives twice. When conducting this operation, the elephant was close to running us over and at elephant Abhimanyu came across and protected us. We got a second life because of Abhimanyu,” he said.

It has been almost one year since the wild elephant has been damaging crops. In the fringe villages, people have been scared of this elephant and were worried to step out during the night. The operation had to be conducted after getting permission from the PCCF (wildlife), the DCF said.

Meanwhile, there is a proposal to name the elephant as Yesu, because it was captured on the holy Christmas Day. However, a final decision in this regard is pending. Seven elephants that assisted in the operation include Abhimanyu, Krishna, Harsha, Dhananjay, Ajay, Geetha and Gange. Veterinarians Dr Mujeeb, Dr Vinay and Dr Murli were part of the operation. “The staffs were in the forest from December 22. Once the elephant spotted the department’s officials and elephants it was not moving. It is very difficult to walk in the forest area,” he said.

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